When you think of Indiana, you think corn and soybeans and basketball. But the state also has a rich history with battleships and the U.S. Navy will soon dedicate a new submarine which carries the name USS Indiana, and you can be there to enjoy the event.

More than 3,000 Hoosiers attended the last commission event in 1940, said Wayne County Treasurer Cathy Williams, who is helping organize this year's event.

To get the group rate of $995 per person, participants must sign up by Friday, Williams said.

The trip will include a trip to the Kennedy space Center and a reunion of World War II veterans. Air fare and hotel fees are included.

The group will leave on September 27 and return on September 29, Williams said.

The new ship is a Virginia-class fast attack nuclear submarine and was christened on April 27, followed by several months of sea trials, and will be officially commissioned on Sept. 29.

The new ship will be the first named after Indiana to be in active service since the end of World War II. The first USS Indiana (BB 1) was a naval battleship active during the Spanish-American War in the 1890s. The third was USS Indiana (BB 58), a battleship active in Pearl Harbor, the Panama Canal and the Mariana Islands in World War II. This ship received nine battle stars for its service in the war.

The second USS Indiana (BB 50) was canceled in the middle of its construction in the 1920s.

Williams, who is a member of the commissioning group, said the event will impact all Hoosiers.

“The Commissioning Ceremony Reception will be a showcase for Indiana products, food and beverages,” Willliams said. “We would like to end by endowing a $1,000 scholarship for each crew member of the USS Indiana.

“Counties have been asked to raise as much as possible to make it a lasting gift from the people of Indiana,” Williams said.

So far, the majority of people who are planning to attend the event already live in Florida, said Ray Shearer, chairman of the USS Indiana Commissioning Committee.

“We have a long nautical history, Shearer said. Indiana had the first battleship that was named for a state."

The Indiana’s third ship sank in World War II just two weeks before the war ended, after being torpedoed by the Japanese.